1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to etalons, such as Fabry-Perot etalons, and associated methods, more particularly to straight-edged etalons and methods of mass-producing etalons.
2. Description of Related Art
An example of a conventional rectangular etalon 10 is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The etalon 10 includes two plane, parallel, highly reflective surfaces 12 on plates 14. The surfaces 12 are separated by spacer blocks 16, forming a gap 19 there between. The gap 19 can be an air-filled gap, a gas-filled gap, or a vacuum.
As can be seen therein, edges 18 of all components of the etalon 10 are beveled. This beveling is used to insure durability of the etalon while it is being integrated into a system, particularly for preventing chips on the etalon. However, this beveling does not lend itself to mass production of etalons.
Conventionally, etalons have been larger than on a micro scale and a large number of etalons were not required for a system. However, the use of etalons in communications systems, particularly with wavelength division multiplexed systems, has become more widespread. The use of etalons in communication systems is taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,756 entitled "Etalon Filters for Optical Channel Selection in Wavelength Division Multiplexed Fiber Systems" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,762 entitled "Optical Communication System Using Tandem Fabry-Perot Etalon for Wavelength Selection," both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Such applications require both small etalons and a large number of etalons. The beveling of the conventional etalons makes both the small size and the mass production of such etalons impractical.